NUTLEY — The last time we met these old Marines, they were looking for a few good square feet.

That was the headline of a column in this space three years ago, when a local Marine Corps League was evicted from their Nutley headquarters. The column generated a lot of goodwill for the veteran membership, a group of about 50 men spanning 70 years of military service.

"A number of people came forward with offers," said Kent Miller of the Air Land Sea Detachment 710. "But Chuck Schwartz told us he was a Marine, and told us to go out and find a suitable commercial space, and he would pay for it."

Then Chuck Schwartz went one better. After a two-year search, he bought a commercial building in Nutley, and the gave the Marines the bottom floor to fix up and call their own. Since the group was founded in 1990 in an old meat packing plant in Newark’s Ironbound, it has moved a half dozen times since as buildings were sold underneath them.

"I thought we’d never have to move again," Miller said.

"We signed a lease for $1 a year. Chuck handed us the keys and said, ‘Have fun,’ " said Bob Jones, the commandant of group. "We thought we’d be here forever."

The men went to work, like Marines do. They re-framed the space and put up new drywall, spackled and primed it. They enclosed the bare heating system and duct work, and put in a bright white drop ceiling with hanging fans. They built storage closets, a kitchen with new cabinets and a custom U-shaped bar. They put down ceramic tile in the kitchen and bar area, and created a memorabilia museum in the front room. They ripped up old carpet in the backroom meeting space, exposing cement floor. The place was squared away, except for a finishing coat of battleship gray and new carpet. In all, they spent $10,000 and put in about 400 hours of labor.

There is a spot on the wall above a backroom souvenir case, where the battleship-gray paint abruptly ends, in mid-brush stroke.

"That’s when I got the call. I just stopped," said Jones, a contractor who did much of the work.

The call was from member Bill Collins. For a few months, the Marines had been trying to reach Schwartz, the founder of Allied Health Care Services, a medical supply company in Orange but his numbers were disconnected.

"We just wanted to make sure he was extending the lease," Miller said.

Collins did an internet search and found a press release from the Department of Justice in Newark: Charles K. Schwartz had been arrested and was charged with fraud. A lot of fraud. About $87 million worth, according to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman. Schwartz is accused of borrowing millions from various banks between 2002 to 2010, to lease expensive medical equipment, except there were no leases and no equipment. The money went to repay early loans, the charges say. The case is pending. Meanwhile, Schwartz has put the Marines new home up for sale.

The Marines say they aren’t too upset with Schwartz, except that they might have to move again.

"What are you going to do?" said Domenick Tutalo with a shrug. Surviving the 31-day assault on Iwo Jima as a flamethrower, like Tutalo did, tends to put the nuisances of life in perspective.

"Chuck was nothing but good to us," Jones said. "Even after we got the building. We were holding a 50-50 (raffle) and he sent us a check for $300 and didn’t take a ticket."

"I have nothing bad to say about the guy," said Ray Santana. "He helped us when we needed it. We just hope everything works out for the best, for him and us."

Walt Michura even sent him a letter, saying the same, and signed off with Semper Fidelis, which says it all.